The Archmage is an antagonist in Gargoyles. He was a powerful but arrogant magician who taught both the Magus and Demona how to use magic, having once been a courtier at Castle Wyvern and he was the first person known to possess the spellbook called the Grimorum Arcanorum.
He was voiced by David Warner.
History[]
Hudson enlists the young Goliath and Demona to go with him to the Archmage's cave. The three gargoyles battle with the Archmage, resulting in Hudson's scarred eye. Goliath saves the book before it falls into a chasm, and the Archmage seemingly falls to his death. He was defeated by Goliath, but his future self saved him from his fall in a perpetual time paradox — as his future self existed in the 1990s, and rescued his past self, without any explanation for how the loop began.
The Archmage continues to live through this loop, despite his later defeat, after rescuing himself in the past. By manipulating events, and coercing the Weird Sisters to do his bidding, he managed to obtain the Grimorum Arcanorum, the Phoenix Gate and the Eye of Odin, granting him ultimate power as he had long wished. Using the gate, the Archmages are brought to 1020 A.D. Meeting with the Sisters, the older Archmage tells them to guide the destinies of both Demona and Macbeth. In order to do so, they need to bend Oberon's law. He also advises that they watch for the Grimorum, the Eye and the Gate, which perplexes them, as he already has the last two objects. Archmage laughs, for he didn't acquire them until the three of them brought them to him. He instructs them to meet him in 975 years in the waters before Avalon.
However, he refused to destroy them immediately because he wanted revenge on Goliath and believed that he was invincible. His hubris allowed the Avalon Clan, with Goliath's help, to mount a counterattack. Goliath managed to steal the Eye of Odin away from him, and without the Eye, he was unable to control the power of the Grimorum Arcanorum, having previously swallowed it in order to circumvent the law that the book could never enter Avalon, and it destroyed him, turning him to a pile of dust.